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Issue - meetings

Meeting: 16/01/2020 - Health and Wellbeing Board (Item 145)

145 Child Poverty in Devon pdf icon PDF 58 KB

Report of the Chief Officer for Communities, Public Health, Environment and Prosperity on the theme of ‘Child Poverty in Devon’, as outlined as a priority in the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy, attached.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Board considered a Report from the Chief Officer for Communities, Public Health, Environment and Prosperity on Child Poverty in Devon.  The Report highlighted that the causes of child poverty were broad, and the experience of child poverty varied significantly across Devon’s communities.  Whilst levels of child poverty had generally declined, there were considerable variations that existed across Devon.

 

One of the complex and challenging issues with child poverty, as causes were broad and multiple, was that there was no overall lead from a local organisation, meaning that work to resolve the causes and ameliorate the impact of child poverty was usually focused on specific individual causes rather than tackling the issue as a whole.  It was therefore important to strengthen collaboration between organisations and strategic partnerships to tackle this issue.

 

The Board discussed and asked questions on the following;

 

·     Initiatives within Children’s Services around school attainment within North Devon and coastal towns which link into child poverty;

·     Utilising resources such as the European Social Fund to help reduce child poverty; and

·     Devon’s Economy Team looking into causes of child poverty including social mobility.

 

 

It was MOVED by Councillor Leadbetter, SECONDED by Dr Pearson, and

 

RESOLVED that the findings of the Child Poverty review be noted and a presentation on strategic economic assessment and development strategy be brought to a future Board meeting.

 

 



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